Regrets
by NJCD
Summary: Eli and Clare have a fight that goes too far. This shows their journey afterwards...up above. Much religous mentions, conspiracys...ect.
1. The Incident

"Don't tell me what to do!" Clare screamed. Eli closed his eyes and tried to calm down. Alas, it didn't work. He rubbed his eyes and opened them, "I don't want you to hang out with your EX! He could try to pull something on you." Eli growled. "Jake wouldn't do that. He's my stepbrother." Clare said, trying to be reasonable. Eli was breathing heavier then Clare had ever heard him, "I don't trust him. You can't hang out with him."

"Shut up, Eli! We live in the same house! You can't stop me." She said. "You know what? Fuck you, Clare. Fuck all of this!" He motioned between them. He paced back and forth muttering to himself, the turned to Clare, "I'm saying this once more. You are NOT to talk to Jake." She shook her head, "Fuck you, Eli." She said, "If you are that fucking insecure that you think I would cheat on you with my own brother, then you need help." She spat.

Eli glared at Clare, then shoved her back in to the wall, quickly returning to the far end of the room, by his bookcase. "Fuck you! I hate you!" He screamed and grabbed a picture frame. Without aiming, he beamed it at Clare. She ducked at stared at Eli like he was crazy. "What the he-" Without warning, Eli began throwing book after book at Clare. She tried to duck and dodge, but several hit her. "Eli! Stop, please." She begged. He threw the last book from the shelf and opened one of his drawers for something else to throw.

Clare ran over to him, wrapped her arms around him and, catching him by surprise, throwing him to the floor, "Stop it!" She yelled. His head slammed into the corner of the desk and Eli didn't move. "E-Eli?" Clare whispered after a minute. She walked over to him and knelt beside him, "Eli?" She felt his head and lifted her hand to see her palm covered in blood.

"Eli!" She shook him, trying to wake him up. "No, no, no. Please be okay." She begged. A puddle of blood formed at the floor and Clare. She grabbed one of Eli's shirts and wrapped it around his head. "Please Eli. I promise I'll never hang out with Jake again. Please Eli, I promise." She applied as much pressure to the wound as she could, but blood still leaked out.

Within 3 minutes, Eli was dead and Clare had fled.


	2. Epilogue

Epilogue

No one had ever found out that Clare killed Eli. Later, the day of the incident, she had gone back and took anything of value. The police, considering the mess and the possessions missing, decided someone had went to rob the house, ran into Eli and killed him.

It was now a year later. Clare went to Eli's grave everyday. Right now, she sat in front of it crying, as she always did. "If you c-can hear me, Eli, please know I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to." She said the same thing nearly everyday.

And, everyday, Eli would sit in front of her. "Clare. Why can't you see me?" He would ask. Eli was saddened. Why had he started that stupid fight?! He was even upset that Clare kept the promise she made as he had lay on the floor bleeding. She never talked to Jake. Jake had assumed it was because Clare was in shock. Actually, Clare didn't talk to anyone much.

Her mom got her therapist after therapist trying to get the daughter she loved back. It hurt her to see Clare like this. It hurt Eli too. To have her come her everyday and cry in front of him. Eli couldn't move on and go to Heaven unless his loved ones moved on also. By the looks of it, they never would. He was destined to be a ghost for eternity. Or so he thought.

"Eli." Clare spoke to the grave, "I'm done. I can't stop only being able to be with you for an hour. I need to be with you." Eli didn't understand what she was doing until she pulled out a handgun. "Clare, no!" Eli screamed. Clare looked up and glanced around, "It's like I can hear you. I'll be with you soon."

She held the gun to her head and fired it. A loud shot rang in Eli's ear. Blood splattered through him and hit his grave. "No!" He screamed and knelt beside her. Eli could see a ghost rise up from Clare. "Clare..." He whispered. She was in shock for a moment, then saw him. She hugged him as tight as she could. "Why would you do that, Clare?" He said, pushing her away. "I love you." She explained.


	3. Pergatory

"I love you, too." He hugs her tightly. "Where are we, Eli?" She asks, looking around. "Purgatory." He mutters. "W-We're not in Heaven? Why are you still in Purgatory? Shouldn't you have moved on?" "It's a lot different then you would imagine up here. Purgatory isn't what they taught you in Church. I couldn't move on until you did. I couldn't move on until you could live without me, but you never did."

"Oh, Eli. I'm so sorry!" She said. "Don't be. Now I know how Juliet felt." He gave a small smirk. "I was told she moved on a few months after I met you." Clare pressed her lips against Eli's, "I'm so sorry for-for k-k-kill-" He hugged her, "Don't be. Now I know how Juliet felt." Clare stared at Eli, gaping, "You can't blame yourself for her death."

"You shouldn't have blamed yourself for mine. I was being horrible to you. I deserved it." They stood together, holding hands. Covering Clare's wrist were healed scars and recent cuts. "Babe..." Eli whispered. He kissed each one.

"I'm so tired." Clare said. "That happens after you die. Apparently, floating all the way up here takes a lot of energy. Imagine if you had to go straight to Heaven." He chuckled. "I don't understand." She wearily said. "Well, Purgatory is on the way to Heaven. It's about half way there. If we had to go all the way up, twice the distance you covered, you'd probably die of over-exaution. If that were possible."

"How do you know all of this?" Clare muttered, resting against Eli's chest. ""I've been here for more then a year. I learned a lot. I even learned that Satan is not actua-" He stopped talking when he saw Clare had fallen asleep. "Sleep well, My Love."


	4. James

Eli had held Clare until she woke up. Although, she hadn't woken up where she fell asleep. She woke up in a small bed, with Eli's arm wrapped around her. She sat up and saw the bed was in a moderately sized white room. There was a small bed-side table with 2 copies of The Holy Bible on it. In one corner of the room, a small in-floor bathtub was placed.

Clare looked at Eli, who was peacefully sleeping. "Eli." she gently shook him. "Mmm, yes, Clare." He sat up slowly. "Since I'm here now, shouldn't you and I move on already?" "Are you ready to go?" He asked, rubbing his eyes. She nodded, "Yeah. No. Wait, how are things on Earth? Can we see that?"

He shook his head, "I don't think we should." She stared hard at him, "Why not?" He sighed, "You don't want to see anyone down there." "Yes I do. why wouldn't I?" He wiped his eyes, "You don't know how hard it was for me to see you, everyday, crying at my grave. Cutting yourself. Letting the blood drip down onto my coffin."

"You saw all of that?" I nodded. "I was hoping so, so much that you could see me. But, you couldn't." Clare covered her heart, "I'm sorry. I didn't realiz-" "It wasn't your choice. As far as I knew, only one person could see me." He whispered. "Who?" He sighed, "A little boy. He was, like, 12 years old. His name was James. He liked to be called Jimmy, though."

"How did you meet him?" "Well, it was, like, the 20th time you came to visit my grave. He was there also. Not at my grave, I mean, but at the graveyard. His sister, Jackie, died of cancer around the same time I died." He paused for a moment, then continued, "After you left, I stayed around for a while, resting on my grave. It's comfortable, the grave. It feels like home, you know? I guess knowing that my body was there, it felt like I belonged there."

He paused again. "He came up to me and asked why I was sitting on the grave. Of course, I was ecstatic. Someone could see me! I explained that I was dead. He thought it was cool. You know, that he could see me. We started hanging out. I would hang out at his sister's grave with him. After you'd left, of course. I spent every moment I could with you, even though you didn't know."

Clare took Eli's hand. He continued. "I tried to explain to Jimmy that his sister couldn't leave Purgatory unless he moved on. He couldn't. He killed himself. I met him and was able to actually shake his hand. Before, when he was alive, he couldn't touch me. That's how he knew I was really a ghost."

Eli took a deep breath, "Jimmy and his sister moved on to Heaven. Sadly, before I could ask him to tell you what I told him. That one can't moved on until their love on Earth does. It's just as well. Part of me wanted you to love me forever. Part of me felt horrible for the pain I was causing you."


	5. Staircases and Santa Claus

"It's...it's a staircase."

"Geez. I just floated here. I assumed it would be the same." Eli muttered, staring with Clare at the square spiral staircase. "I'll never be able to do that. It'll take me a month!" Eli sighed, "Yeah...about that. They're's kinda...a time limit." Clare gawked at him, "A time limit?" He pursed his lips, "Yeah. Yeah, I forgot to mention it, I guess."

"A time limit. Okay, first, we go to purgatory instead of straight to Heaven. **Now**, we have to walk up a huge flight of stairs to go to Heaven. In a short period of time. This is unbeleivable." She sighed sitting down on the first step. "Umm, Clare?" "What?" She snapped. "We're using our time." He tapped his wrist. "It's started?!" She cried. "Come on." He held his hand out for her.

She sighed and stood up. Together the couple began up the first steps. After 30 minutes of walking, Clare stopped, abruptly, and sat down, "How long do we have?" He sighed..."A day. 23 hours left." She groaned and stood up.

Hours passed. Eli could tell Clare was getting tired. In the short time he spent with James' sister, they would race, so Eli had gained more strength. She was a kid after all. Every day, they would run as fast as they could down the hallways. Though, they were often scolded by the Saint who was in charge of Purgatory. Saint Nicolas. That's right, Santa Claus. He was real.

Of course, due to his old age, he stopped delivering presents around the 16th century. The beleif supported itselfs. With gulliable children and willing parents who knew no better. Saint Nick often made candy and treats for Eli and Jackie, who became one of Eli's best freinds. In purgatory. His alive one would always be Adam, though later became James, as Adam was unable to see him. There also was no 'Mrs. Claus'. A rumor made by parents.

Eli sighed, "Get on my back." Clare stopped, "What?" He squatted, "Get on. You're tired. Get on." She obliged and allowed herself to be carried. "Why can't we just float up?" Clare asked, he chim bobbing against Eli's shoulder. "You wouldn't beleive me." He muttered, smirking. "Try me, Goldsworthy."

He smirked again, "Well, Edwards, as you know, the worlds supply of Helium is low. So, God had his Son's adoptive father, Joseph, along with Noah build this stair case in order to save helium." He said, truthfully. Clare giggled, "Sure. If that's true, why wouldn't they just build 2 stair cases so they would have to use any helium at all? Hmmm?" "I think people wouldnotice a huge staircase comin up to Pergatory from Earth."

"Oh. Yeah. Wow. It seems like everything in the bible was wrong." Eli nodded, "Did you know they're wasn't even a flood? Noah never even built an ark." "What?" Clare said, not sure if she;d heard correctly. "A athiest made that up. An athiest wrote that chapter in the bible to make God seem cruel. Never even happened."

"The Romans didn't prosecute Jesus for spreading God's word. He lost his temper and killed a Jewish shopkeeper." Clare shook her head, "No...J-Jesus killed a man?" Eli pursed his lips, "Yup. Adam and Eve's mistake effected everyone." Hot tears rolled down Clare's cheeks, Everything she ever beleived in...everything she was ever taught was a lie.

"Put me down." Clare said. Eli obeyed and put her down. They walked in slience, not uttering a word between them. Eli broke the horrid slience later:

"I'm sorry. I know that's a lot. I learned all this over a period of time. There's a real bible. One with the truth. It's a-" "Leave me alone, Eli." Clare muttered. The rest of the journey was walked in slience. Pretty soon, the couple came to a big door way on the side of the stairs, on one of the corners.

Although there were countless stairs left, they knew where they had arrived. Heaven.


End file.
